Review – Jimmy Eat World – Integrity Blues

Jimmy Eat World. “The Middle“, “Sweetness” and “Pain“. If you were listening to the Punk/Emo scene as a teenager chances are these songs are noted in your mind from the past. Easily being one of the best pop punk bands of all time return after a three year absence for their ninth album “Integrity Blues” which includes previous singles “Sure And Certain” and “Get Right” The album is scheduled to be released on 10/21. I was invited to listen to the new record and I gotta say it’s another evolution in band history with some hard hitting songs (“Pass The Baby“, “Get Right“) and a few powerful ballads (“Sure and Certain“, “Through“)

So starting with the first single “Get Right” The opening lyrics really popped for me “Hands will take their place, far from intentions made.” The song is a bit angsty with the feeling of when you aren’t comfortable in some place. Then the chorus hits with “I’m destination addicted. I just gotta be some place else..never a good time, never a good space..to get right. Get it right” There seems to be a bit of a gnarl in the vocals in this song. Honestly, it hits pretty home as the first single to be released.

The title track “Integrity Blues” is really about how you learn to come to accept what you have instead of going a bit insane over the things you don’t, and how sometimes we get a lil bit to personally about those things we don’t have. It has a slow build to it and high vocals that are are kinda at ease making this a solemn ballad about acceptance.

One song that stood out to me out of the whole album was “Pass The Baby” One, the title was interesting and secondly, it had a great build up with amazing sound. It was a bit trance-like with the background guitar and slow ease vocals with a slight darkness to it.

One of the songs that keeps the traditional Jimmy Eat World sound is “Through” this track was definitely reminiscent of “Work” and “The Middle” in the fact it’s a coming of age type of song. It may have been one of their more difficult songs to write but it maintained the Jimmy Eat World persona. Like most coming of age songs it poses alot of angst and overcoming said obstacles in life. With lyrics like “..Go get mad, have a child’s tantrum til everyone knows how how wrong you’ve been, look around that’s not me, not one shred of who I’ll be.” So with lyrics like that it’s easy to see that you can become and do whatever you set your mind to.

This album is definitely progressive in the bands history. Jim Adkins has even been quoted saying “The best any of us have is in a state of progress, and when you come to acceptance on that you focus on that effort instead of some distant outcome.” These words really sum up the whole album with a mix of progression and a reminder of what they started with.

Overall, this album is great. It’s completely different from “Bleed American” and “Futures” so if your looking for some fresh outlook or your just a fan of Jimmy Eat World. Get it right and pick up this album. It hits the shelves October 21st!